Giacomo
Casanova was an adventurer, libertine, magician and traveler who, late
in life, wrote his multi-volume memoirs. Movies have been feasting on
them as long as there have been movies. Fellini made “Fellini’s
Casanova” with Donald Sutherland as the rake of the Renaissance, but it
was surprisingly stodgy for Fellini. The same certainly can’t be said
for Lasse Hallström’s lively, funny—and underestimated—“Casanova” of
2005.

Heath Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for his
performance in “Brokeback Mountain,” but he’s just as good in a wildly
different role here. The screen story is by Michael Cristofer and
Kimberly Simi; Simi co-wrote the screenplay with Jeffrey Hatcher. The
dialogue may be short on really memorable lines, but it’s ripe with
memorable characters and situations. It’s in classic farce mode, with
almost everyone being mistaken for someone else, lots of scampering
about, a little swordplay, and lots of story twists. The writers may
very well have taken Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” as a model;
“Casanova” is just as frothy, just as complicated, and even more
stuffed with mistaken identities.

It’s the late 18th century, and Casanova is seducing his way through
the beauties of Venice, but he’s under intense scrutiny by the latest
Inquisition. The Doge of Venice (Tim McInnerny), the ruler of the city
with the canals, warns Casanova that the only way he can be safe from
imprisonment, or worse, by the Inquisition is to quickly marry. He
decides on Victoria (charming Natalie Dormer), that rarest of
creatures, a Venetian virgin. Neither he nor she notice that she’s
already loved by young Giovanni Bruni (Charlie Cox), who lives across a
canal from her.

Giovanni’s mother Francesca Andrea (Lena Olin) was herself once famous
for her affairs, and has raised her daughter Francesca (Sienna Miller)
to think for herself. She’s done so in a series of scandal-provoking
pamphlets, written under a male pseudonym. But she confronts a
gathering of scholars as herself, scandalizing the room, but attracting
the attention of Casanova, flying through the auditorium. (yes)

Meanwhile, arriving in Venice is Pucci (Jeremy Irons, also in the
recent “Merchant of Venice”), the regional chief inquisitor of the
Inquisition—who’s targeted Casanova. Also arriving, in a palatial
barge, is Paprizzio (Oliver Platt), the lard king of Genoa; he’s made a
fortune in pig fat, and somewhat resembles a pig himself. He’s
scheduled to marry Francesca, whom he has yet to meet.

Soon, things start getting complicated: Casanova meets whom he thinks
is Giovanni in a duel, but the younger man has been replaced by his
sister Francesca—better with swords than Casanova. The great lover is
stunned by Francesca; he’s never met a woman quite like her—but he’s
passing himself off as Paprizzio at this point, while the real Lard
King is being detained elsewhere.

Then everything gets more complicated, involving balloons, fireworks,
lots of rushing about and a great deal of laughter.

Many critics disparaged “Casanova,” but it’s one of the best movies of
2005, lively, funny and sexy without being exploitive. Ledger is
terrific as the slightly jaded, intelligent and now besotted Casanova;
he’s handsome, graceful and clearly having a great time—and this Aussie
does a perfect British accent. He’s well paired with Sienna Miller, who
also thoroughly gets into the spirit of things. Omid Djalili, as Lupo,
Casanova’s valet, is well cast as the cynic of the piece, another very
Shakespearian element. Oliver Platt, whose makeup is subtle but
transforming, is also terrific as the rather dense Lard King.

Hallström made the wise decision to shoot the entire film in Venice;
with one or two exceptions (the balloon, for example) is absolutely
real—this is the way the city and its buildings really look. Oliver
Stapleton’s wide-screen cinematography and production designer David
Gropman’s choice and redecoration of locations evoke the 18th century
almost flawlessly. You might be reminded of “Dangerous Beauty” from a
few years ago, also set in Venice’s past.

Although many of the details of Casanova’s life are accurate—his
actress mother did abandon him as a child, he did seduce all those
women, the Inquisition was after him, etc.—the film’s story is almost
entirely fictional. It’s a romantic farce, a variation on Casanovian
themes, not an attempt to recreate anything but what the period looked
like. And that it does very well.

There are occasional cutaways to puppet shows performed in Venice
squares—puppet shows about the exploits of Casanova, who pays them
little heed. But they’re there to show us that we needn’t take this
movie any more seriously than the Venetians regarded the puppet shows.
This is all Shakespearian/commedia dell’arte hijinks and romance,
winking at its characters and inviting us to do the same. It’s grand
fun, and deserves a better reputation than it seems to have developed.

The DVD is a good showcase for the film; it looks splendid, with its
mostly dark-toned colors rendered well and the lively soundtrack (with
an almost continuous score, drawn from several sources) treated with
respect and fidelity. There’s little innovation in terms of the sound,
but the movie doesn’t require it.

The extras are brief. Hallström’s commentary track is reasonably
informative at times, pointless at other times—and simply not there at
yet other times. He’s a good, intelligent director, but he’s not the
best spokesperson for his movie. Other extras include a standard but
well-produced “making-of” and short pieces on the costume design and on
photographing Venice. The movie was not especially expensive, though it
looks as though it were; some of the production footage shows that
portable green screens were unfurled in Venice so present-day elements
could be replaced by computer-created images of the past.

You probably didn’t see “Casanova” in theaters; it didn’t do well, at
least in the U.S., but now it’s available in this inexpensive DVD. I
recommend that you at least rent it; you might end up wanting to own it.

more details

sound format:

Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS 5.1

aspect ratio:

2.35:1 (16X 9 enhanced)

special features:

A
Making-of documentary; some deleted scenes and an extended scene;
commentary by director Lasse Halström; “Dressing in Style”—on the
costumes; “Visions of Venice”